When I was younger, I used to think one solid or good idea was enough to carry a story. With time, I learned that to be very, very false. Having one good idea is not enough to carry a story. For example, Hitchcock’s film Saboteurends with a climactic action scene atop the Statue of Liberty. Now, imagine if everything leading up to that was a series of lame ideas leading into that one good idea. Now, you see the point. Continue reading “On Writing (Part 5): Have more than one Good Idea per Story”

Writers receive a great deal of rejection in life. All writers are convinced their stories are the cotton candy of carnival desires. That their stories are so savory and sweet that they melt on your tongue when devoured. And why not? Writers bleed words into sentences, into paragraphs, into chapters, into sections, into parts, into books, into series of books. After hours, days, weeks, months, years of slaving away at the story, they don’t want to submit stories and have them unceremoniously rejected. In the least someone could make a big deal out of it, but nope. Just. Rejection. Continue reading “How do writers cope with rejection?”